‘Try before you buy’: homebuyers remain reticent in Marylebone rental apartments

In a new Financial Times article this week, our Founder Camilla Dell shares her perspective on the chic residential neighborhood of Marylebone, central London.

“You’ve got to really love Marylebone to buy a house there,” she said, sharing that while prices in Marylebone are high, they are still typically 20 per cent less than next-door Mayfair, although the gap is narrowing for the area’s super-prime, new-build apartments.

“New-build in Marylebone now trades at well over £3,000 a square foot,” she said.

Read the full article here.

What the stamp duty charge for overseas buyers means for London

From April 1 2021, non-UK residents will now have to pay an additional 2% stamp duty charge on any England or Northern Ireland property.

Reacting to the announcement and what this may mean for the future of the UK property sector, Camilla Dell shared with with George Hammond of The Financial Times why she believed the new charge will in fact not deter overseas buyers completely:

“It’s an additional cost, but you have to balance that with how a [prime] London property looks to an overseas buyer at the moment: prices are still down 20 per cent from the peak [in 2014]; the pound is up but still cheap compared to the dollar.”

Read more in the full article here.

Village feel and green appeal lure homebuyers to Dulwich

As people continue to yearn for community, property prices in pretty suburbs like Dulwich are on the rise.

As buying agents for London and the wider UK, this is certainly something we’ve noticed over the past year here at Black Brick. Sharing his insights into the topic this week in The Financial Times, our buying partner, Caspar Harvard-Walls commented:

“It’s so popular at the moment because we’ve seen this real need for a sense of community — a high street and outside space. People want to be a part of the area they’re moving to. They want to know people on their high street — who the butcher is, say hi to the guy they get their coffee from.”

The year the UK housing market defied gravity

This past year has been a roller coaster for the housing market here in the UK, to say the least.

As the year draws to a close, our Founder, Camilla Dell has been featured in The Financial Times to share her insights and thoughts on what the luxury London property sector has been like in 2020, and what the future may hold for 2021.

“This time of year people are always drawn to the portals for some good old ‘property porn’ — and perhaps this year more than ever as, let’s face it, there isn’t much else to do,” Camilla said. “But, whether this will translate into a flurry of new transactions in the new year remains to be seen. I think a lot of people wanting to make a move this year already have.”

Read more in the full article here.

Have London’s new homes lost their lustre?

With lockdown slowing down the sales of luxury new-builds in London, have they lost their appeal?

Camilla Dell, Black Brick’s Founder and experienced London buying agent for premium property, shared in The Financial Times this week how the pandemic has shifted cultural behaviours towards apartment properties:

“It was once a plus having the shared gym, spa, swimming pool and concierge,” Camilla said. “In a world with a pandemic they might think twice and want to buy the freehold on a newly refurbished Mayfair town house instead.”

Read the article here.

Calls grow louder for full-scale overhaul of UK property tax

Our Founder and Managing Partner, Camilla Dell has joined calls on the government this week to overhaul the tax system for UK property.

Commenting in The Financial Times, Camilla said that the 2016 surcharge, particularly for people whose house sale fall through and leave them with two properties, has created new administrative difficulties:

“The whole property tax regime has just become too complicated. It’s a headache,” she shared.

London’s property ‘flippers’ forced to sell at a loss

Investors who buy up London property in the hopes of making a profit are increasingly getting disappointed when it comes to selling.

“As prices fall, many property flippers are unable or unwilling to complete, so face either selling at a loss or losing their deposit”, Black Brick Founder and renowned buying agent, Camilla Dell shared in The Financial Times this week.

Reflecting on her own experience with property flippers for luxury London homes, Camille explained: “The price you negotiate off-plan is the price you pay at the end, even if the market has fallen 30 per cent. Your mortgage lender doesn’t care if it’s gone down. As the buyer, you can inject the equity yourself, or you fail to complete,”.

Read more in the full article here.

London’s cut-price mansions: expect more deep discounts

Fears are beginning to grow over the state of the London’s prime property market, as luxury homes continue to sell at cut-prices.

Sharing her insights as a top buying agent for prime central London, Black Brick’s Founder, Camilla Dell spoke with Hugo Cox of The Financial Times:

Reflecting on a recent property purchase of a six-bedroom converted Mayfair pub, Camilla said: “When the bank made a further margin call to reflect the lower value in the falling market, the owner ran out of cash and defaulted, leaving the bank racing to sell the house.”

Read the full article here.

Will redevelopment blunt Kentish Town’s edgy appeal?

With regeneration in north west London’s Kentish Town on the rise, will it still be seen as edgy in five years time?

Black Brick’s Founder, Camilla Dell joined a host of fellow London estate agents this week in The Financial Times to discuss Kentish Town’s prospects as a desirable place for families and top buyers to live.

Reacting to its rising house prices, which have nearly doubled since 2007, Camilla shared her perspective that the area was “up and coming”.

Read more in the full article here.

Market stalls in London’s Covent Garden

In a new piece for The Financial Times this week, Black Brick buying agent Camilla Dell shares her thoughts on why prime property prices have fallen in Covent Garden recently.

“One of the reasons people were buying four or five years ago is it looked great value compared to Mayfair or Kensington,” Camilla said. “But now the price per square foot is the same as Kensington on new-builds. To buy in Covent Garden you have to love Covent Garden”.

Read more in the full article here.